Commissioners at their Tuesday evening meeting agreed to provide about $6,000 worth of in-kind services to the Lynn Electric Kansas Marathon on April 19.

The event will serve as a fundraiser for Health Care Access, which caused commissioners to say they were fine with providing city services to the event.

The city will provide police officers and firefighters to deal with traffic and health and safety issues related to the race and up 2,000 runners it could attract. The city will use money from the city guest tax charged on hotel rooms to pay for the city services.

The race — which won’t include a full marathon this year but instead will have a 5K, 10K and half-marathon — will feature a route along Massachusetts Street and through Old West Lawrence, the Kansas University campus and parts of west Lawrence.

Health Care Access leaders said similar races have raised about $50,000 for the clinic. Commissioners approved the request on a 4-0 vote. Commissioner Sue Hack was absent.

Comments

What is a mere $6000 for feel-good, do-good, entertainment? After all it is less than ten cents per person in Lawrence. Anyone who would object to being forced to contribute to that charity against their will for such a worhty cause is selfish, stingy, uncaring, and, without question, conservative. Get with the program. Ignore the math of the exponential effect of repeated confiscations of your money to fund non-essential functions by a city government that is completely out of touch with reality.]\